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Baz Lawson reports from a surprisingly downbeat 3rd XV team:
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Watsonian 3rdXV vs. Lismore 2nd XV
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This past Saturday saw the 3rd XV travelling across Edinburgh to Inch Park to face Lismore 2nd XV. Upon arriving at Inch Park it was realised that the numbers available to Coach Easton were well below what was expected due to some late call offs and some numbers having been released to go play for the 4th XV. By the time the final few managed to find the ground and get stripped, the head count of 16 players was a huge disappointment to some members amongst the team who had had their occasional lemonade spiked the previous night at various establishments around the city. These players who were hoping for a spell on the bench before being required soon learned they'd be playing the full 80 minutes and Mixu "Jaeger Bomb" McPhillips was the lucky chap picked for sideline duties much to his relief. Upon taking to field we soon realised we should have brought our tramping boots as the undulating pitch resembled the Pentland hills more than a rugby field and the long grass was going to tire the legs rapidly.
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The warm up was very flat and the mood amongst the boys was one of victory before the first whistle had even blown, this attitude was one we would pay dearly for with a complete turnaround from last week's victory where some fantastic rugby had been played to one where we fumbled and stuttered our way to a rather large and flattering win. Although the Referee's official score was 69-5 many people at the game who were watching on seemed to think it was 74-5 and after adding up the try scorers this appeared to be the case.
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From the kick off we tried to apply the pressure and again the forward pack showed an early dominance, but any ball they presented to the backs was put down with many a man in space left with their hands on their heads after yet another fumble. Finally we got some territory within the opposition 22 and the tried and true lineout drive proved effective again with the pack rumbling over and Freddie Main collecting the 5 points. Joe Parsons converted successfully to take the score to 7-0.
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From the kick off again we managed to fumble our way into the opposition 22 through the occasional penalty which allowed stand off Parsons to gain us the territory, at this point the forwards had had enough of seeing the backs put down their hard earned ball so they began to play a close game, a rapid break up the middle followed by some sleek hands saw Ali Easton go over for our second 5 pointer, Parsons missed the conversion taking the score to 12 - 0.
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Our heads were now up but soon got pulled back in when from the kick off the Lismore forwards claimed a messy ball and recycled it quickly to their handy stand off who used his pace and strength to shrug of 3 weak defensive efforts to cross the line from about 30 metres out. The conversion was missed and the score was now 12 - 5.
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From the kick off we went back on the attack but again we couldn't convert any points quickly to try and kill the game off, winger Neil McMillan broke several tackles close to the line and charged over only for the ref to disallow it due to a double movement. Finally after more turn over ball in the opposition 22 Freddie Main picked and went for the line, knocking one defender flat and carrying one over the line to score his second of the day. Parson converted making it 19-5.
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Finally things were looking up, Coach Easton was trying to roll his one sub to give the front row a rest, this saw two try scoring hooker Main moved back to the flank with McPhillips packing down in the tight. The backline finally began to get some passes to stick and after a couple of breaks up the left wing kiwi winger Clint Cameron managed to get around the defence and stretch out to score in the corner. Parsons missed a difficult conversion leaving the score at 24-5. Another break up the right and a chip ahead from Cameron saw his second try come in quick succession, again unconverted taking the score to 29-5. The half was rounded off when a chip over the top and tidy collection from Joe Parsons saw him side step a very flat footed fullback to cross the line for his first try of the game, he converted his own score to end the half at 36-5.
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The half time chat from Easton wasn't as scathing as it could possibly have been but all the boys on the field knew there were a lot of things that needed to be improved on and the few words that were said were on how we wanted to finish the game off far better than we had started, unfortunately this wasn't necessarily the case. Although there was improvement in the second half and a haul of 38 points was scored, due to the game becoming scrappy and another comedy of errors I'll keep this brief. Ali Easton went over for his second try before being subbed off by his big brother in some sort of pact that they have for jug avoidance, Parsons' conversion took the score to 43-5.
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Soon after a move down the left saw your reporter who was now playing inside centre make go through a hole in the defence then off loading to Pat Crawley who crossed untouched for his first of the match, Parsons converted making the score 50-5.
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More pressure from the forwards saw Dave the big second rower pick and drive over from a few yards out only to have it disallowed by the ref deeming he didn't apply downward pressure. By now most of the game was getting played down in Lismore's half which could have had something to do with the massive hills seeming to be sloping that way. Some quick ball to the backs saw centre Crawley break two tackles and charge up the field with myself in support, he managed to off load a magic ball in the fullback's tackle to send me over the line to add my name to the ever growing list of try scorers. Parsons converted making it 57-5.
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Again well presented ball to the backs in the opposition half and quick hands through the backs finally saw Neil "McFlying" McMillan bolt down the right hand side to score in the very corner, Parsons' difficult conversion attempt came off the upright, the score remaining at 62-5. Pat Crawley then muscled his way over the line from about 10 metres out to score his second for the day and round off a very strong game, Parsons converted to take the score to 69-5. Finally young scrum half Andrew Lownes picked up a try after a good supporting run paid off, Parsons missed the conversion taking the unofficial score to 74-5.
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The final whistle couldn't come soon enough for most on the field and it was a day many would like to forget. Joe Parsons was man of the match scoring a haul of 19 points with one try and seven conversions, Fullback Kenny was unlucky not to get on the score sheet and was solid at full back often stretching the defence retuning the kicks but like the kiwi winger Clint Cameron didn't get much of a chance in the second half although not through lack of trying. Overall a win as big as that, is one you should happily take, but hopefully we won't let ourselves get that complacent again this season or we may be on the end of a large loss ourselves. Again let's see the faces turning up to training even if it can be only be the Thursday, there is still a large chunk of the season left and things can only get better as the confidence grows and we get a core team regularly playing each Saturday.
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BL
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watsoniansrugby.com
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Published: 3/12/07
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